COURBET, Gustave
(b. 1819, Ornans, d. 1877, La Tour-de-Peilz)

The Trout

1871
Oil on canvas, 53 x 87 cm
Kunsthaus, Zurich

When Courbet was transferred to Sainte-Pélagie prison, he obtained permission from the prison director to paint still-lifes with fruit, a genre he had previously neglected. Once free and back in Ornans, he continued this experiment with trout. On one of these paintings, we see the fish on the banks of the river, the hook still in its mouth, while on the bottom of the painting is inscribed in vinculis faciebat ("made while in chains").




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